(i) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to coating systems for the generation of protective surface alloys for high temperature metal alloy products and, more particularly, relates to the provision of metal alloy coatings on the internal wall surfaces of high-temperature stainless steel tubes and fittings to produce a coating that provides corrosion resistance, erosion resistance and reduces the formation of catalytic coking in the hydrocarbon processing such as in olefin production and in direct reduction of ores. The protection system also has application on carbon steels. For example, in downhole oil and gas applications, the protective system enhance erosion properties compared to carbon steel commonly used.
(ii) Description of the Related Art
Stainless steels are a group of alloys based on iron, nickel and chromium as the major constituents, with additives that can include carbon, tungsten, niobium, titanium, molybdenum, manganese, and silicon to achieve specific structures and properties. The major types are known as martensitic, ferritic, duplex and austenitic steels. Austenitic stainless steel generally is used where both high strength and high corrosion resistance is required. One group of such steels is known collectively as high temperature alloys (HTAs) and is used in industrial processes that operate at elevated temperatures generally above 650xc2x0 C. and extending to the temperature limits of ferrous metallurgy at about 1150xc2x0 C. The major austenitic alloys used have a composition of iron, nickel or chromium in the range of 18 to 42 wt. % chromium, 18 to 48 wt. % nickel, balance iron and other alloying additives. Typically, high chromium stainless steels have about 31 to 38 wt % chromium and low chromium stainless steels have about 20 to 25 wt % chromium.
The bulk composition of HTAs is engineered towards physical properties such as creep resistance and strength, and chemical properties of the surface such as corrosion resistance. Corrosion takes many forms depending on the operating environment and includes carburization, oxidation and sulfidation. Protection of the bulk alloy is often provided by the surface being enriched in chromium oxide (chromia). The specific compositions of the alloys used represent an optimization of physical properties (bulk) and chemical properties (surface). The ability of addressing the chemical properties of the surface through a surface alloy, and physical properties through the bulk composition, would provide great opportunities for improving materials performance in many severe service industrial environments.
Surface alloying can be carried out using a variety of coating processes to deliver the right combination of materials to the component""s surface at an appropriate rate. These materials would need to be alloyed with the bulk matrix in a controlled manner that results in a microstructure capable of providing the pre-engineered or desired benefits. This would require control of the relative interdiffusion of all constituents and the overall phase evolution. Once formed, the surface alloy can be activated and reactivated, as required, by a reactive gas thermal treatment. Since both the surface alloying and the surface activating require considerable mobility of atomic constituents at temperatures greater than 700xc2x0 C., HTA products can benefit most from the procedure due to their designed ability of operating at elevated temperatures. The procedure can also be used on products designed for lower operating temperatures, but may require a post heat treatment after surface alloying and activation to reestablish physical properties.
Surface alloys or coating systems can be engineered to provide a full range of benefits to the end user, starting with a commercial base alloy chemical composition and tailoring the coating system to meet specific performance requirements. Some of the properties that can be engineered into such systems include: superior hot gas corrosion resistance (carburization, oxidation, sulfidation); controlled catalytic activity; and hot erosion resistance.
Two metal oxides are mainly used to protect alloys at high temperatures, namely chromia and alumina, or a mixture of the two. The compositions of stainless steels for high temperature use are tailored to provide a balance between good mechanical properties and good resistance to oxidation and corrosion. Alloy compositions which can provide an alumina scale are favoured when good oxidation resistance is required, whereas compositions capable of forming a chromia scale are selected for resistance to hot corrosive conditions. Unfortunately, the addition of high levels of aluminum and chromium to the bulk alloy is not compatible with retaining good mechanical properties and coatings containing aluminum and/or chromium normally are applied onto the bulk alloy to provide the desired surface oxide.
One of the most severe industrial processes from a materials perspective is the manufacture of olefins such as ethylene by hydrocarbon steam pyrolysis (cracking). Hydrocarbon feedstock such as ethane, propane, butane or naphtha is mixed with steam and passed through a furnace coil made from welded tubes and fittings. The coil is heated on the outerwall and the heat is conducted to the innerwall surface leading to the pyrolysis of the hydrocarbon feed to produce the desired product mix at temperatures in the range of 850 to 1150xc2x0 C. An undesirable side effect of the process is the buildup of coke (carbon) on the innerwall surface of the coil. There are two major types of coke: catalytic coke (or filamentous coke) that grows in long threads when promoted by a catalyst such as nickel or iron, and amorphous coke that forms in the gas phase and plates out from the gas stream. In light feedstock cracking, catalytic coke can account for 80 to 90% of the deposit and provides a large surface area for collecting amorphous coke.
The coke can act as a thermal insulator, requiring a continuous increase in the tube outerwall temperature to maintain throughput. A point is reached when the coke buildup is so severe that the tube skin temperature cannot be raised any further and the furnace coil is taken offline to remove the coke by burning it off (decoking). The decoking operation typically lasts for 24 to 96 hours and is necessary once every 10 to 90 days for light feedstock furnaces and considerably longer for heavy feedstock operations. During a decoke period, there is no marketable production which represents a major economic loss. Additionally, the decoke process degrades tubes at an accelerated rate, leading to a shortened lifetime. In addition to inefficiencies introduced to the operation, the formation of coke also leads to accelerated carburization, other forms of corrosion, and erosion of the tube innerwall. The carburization results from the diffusion of carbon into the steel forming brittle carbide phases. This process leads to volume expansion and the embrittlement results in loss of strength and possible crack initiation. With increasing carburization, the alloy""s ability of providing some coking resistance through the formation of a chromium based scale deteriorates. At normal operating temperatures, half of the wall thickness of some steel tube alloys can be carburized in as little as two years of service. Typical tube lifetimes range from 3 to 6 years.
It has been demonstrated that aluminized steels, silica coated steels, and steel surfaces enriched in manganese oxides or chromium oxides are beneficial in reducing catalytic coke formation. Alonizing(trademark), or aluminizing, involves the diffusion of aluminum into the alloy surface by pack cementation, a chemical vapour deposition technique. The coating is functional to form a NiAl type compound and provides an alumina scale which is effective in reducing catalytic coke formation and protecting from oxidation and other forms of corrosion. The coating is not stable at temperatures such as those used in ethylene furnaces, and also is brittle, exhibiting a tendency to spall or diffuse into the base alloy matrix. Generally, pack cementation is limited to the deposition of one or two elements, the co-deposition of multiple elements being extremely difficult. Commercially, it is generally limited to the deposition of only a few elements, mainly aluminum. Some work has been carried out on the codeposition of two elements, for example chromium and silicon. Another approach to the application of aluminum diffusion coatings to an alloy substrate is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,403,620 issued to P. Adam et al. This patent details a process for the vapour deposition of a metallic interlayer on the surface of a metal component, for example by sputtering. An aluminum diffusion coating is thereafter deposited on the interlayer.
Alternative diffusion coatings have also been explored. In an article in xe2x80x9cProcessing and Propertiesxe2x80x9d entitled xe2x80x9cThe Effect of Time at Temperature on Silicon-Titanium Diffusion Coating on IN738 Base Alloyxe2x80x9d by M. C. Meelu and M. H. Lorretto, there is disclosed the evaluation of a Sixe2x80x94Ti coating, which had been applied by pack cementation at high temperatures over prolonged time periods.
A major difficulty in seeking an effective coating is the propensity of many applied coatings to fail to adhere to the tube alloy substrate under the specified high temperature operating conditions in hydrocarbon pyrolysis furnaces. Additionally, the coatings lack the necessary resistance to any or all of thermal stability, thermal shock, hot erosion, carburization, oxidation and sulfidation. A commercially viable product for olefins manufacture by hydrocarbon steam pyrolysis and for direct reduction of iron ores must be capable of providing the necessary coking and carburization resistance over an extended operating life while exhibiting thermal stability, hot erosion resistance and thermal shock resistance.
When tubes used in ethylene furnaces were coated with MCrAlX-alloy, an improvement on the anti-coking, anti-carburization and resistance to hot erosion properties of the tubes were observed. Deposition of these coatings onto HTA tubes such as by magnetron sputtering has been disclosed previously in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/589,196 filed Jun. 8, 2000.
Plasma transferred arc surface (PTAS) processes, as disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/690,447 filed Oct. 18, 2000 has been also used for coating HTA tubes and superalloys with MCrAlY, as disclosed in Danish Patent No.165,125 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,958,332.
Downhole oil and gas drilling, production and casing tube strings and tools conventionally are fabricated from carbon steels which are prone to corrosion and to erosion under hostile subterranean environments. There accordingly is a need for protective surface coatings on such carbon steel components.
A process entitled Controlled Composition Reaction sintering Process for Production of MCrAlY coatings disclosed in Technical Report AFML-TR-76-91 by Air Force Materials Laboratory and evaluated in a report entitled Development and Evaluation of Process for Deposition of Ni/Coxe2x80x94Crxe2x80x94AlY (McrAlY) Coatings for Gas Turbine Components disclosed in Technical Report AFML-TR-79-4097 by Air Force Materials Laboratory performed by the Solar Division of International Harvester Company Research Laboratory, San Diego, Calif., has been used to produce a MCrAlY type coating on super-alloys. Gas turbine blades were coated with atomized MCrY-alloy using slurry containing an organic binder. The coated turbine blades were than embedded in a pack consisting of aluminum oxide (Al2O3), aluminum powder (Al), and ammonium chloride (NH4Cl). The pack was heated in a controlled atmosphere under controlled time and temperature conditions to produce MCrAlY-coatings that resembled coatings deposited by a standard PVD process. The major problem with this process when applied to gas turbines is that the thickness of the coating varies and is difficult to control. In addition, the Al is added to the coating via pack aluminizing CVD process, which is environmentally unfriendly.
It is therefore a principal object of the present invention to impart beneficial properties to carbon and stainless steel materials through deposition of blended powder composition directly onto the substrate surface in order to produce a desired MCrAlXSi-alloy via a reactive sintering process.
The resulting surface alloy aims to substantially eliminate or reduce the catalytic formation of coke on the internal surfaces of tubing, piping, fittings and other ancillary furnace hardware by minimizing the number of sites for catalytic coke formation and by improving the quality of alumina scale. The alloy coatings of the invention are particularly suited for the manufacture of olefins by hydrocarbon steam pyrolysis, typified by use in furnace tubes and fittings, for ethylene production, the manufacture of other hydrocarbon-based products in the petrochemical industries, and in the direct reduction of ores such as typified by the direct reduction of iron oxide ores to metallic iron in carbon-containing atmospheres.
It is another object of the invention to increase the carburization resistance of HTAs used for tubing, piping, fittings and ancillary furnace hardware whilst in service.
It is a further object of the invention to augment the longevity of the improved performance benefits derived from the surface alloying under commercial conditions by providing thermal stability, hot erosion resistance and thermal shock resistance.
The composition of the coating, according to present invention, is controlled by blending several powders with compositions that will produce the correct MCrAlX-alloy (where M=nickel, cobalt, iron or a mixture thereof and X=yttrium, hafnium, zirconium, lanthanum, scandium or combination thereof) once the reaction sintering is completed.
In its broad aspect, the method of the invention for providing a protective and inert coating to carbon steel and stainless steel at temperatures up to 1150xc2x0 C. comprises depositing onto a steel substrate and metallurgically bonding thereto a continuous overlay coating of a MCrAlXSi alloy, where M=nickel, cobalt or iron or mixture thereof and X=yttrium, hafnium, zirconium, lanthanum or combination thereof, having about 0 to 25 wt % chromium, about 1 to 25 wt % aluminum, about 1 to 35 wt % silicon, and up to about 5.0 wt %, preferably about 0.25 to 1.5 wt % of yttrium, hafnium, zirconium, lanthanum, scandium or combination thereof, the balance being a mininum of 40 wt % M. The overlay coating may be deposited by a variety of methods including but not limited to physical vapor deposition (PVD), thermal spray, plasma transferred arc, and slurry costing techniques with reaction sintering occurring simultaneously with deposition or following deposition. In the case where reaction sintering does not occur during deposition, the overlay coating and substrate are heat-treated subsequently at a soak temperature in the range of about 500 to 1200xc2x0 C. for at least about 10 minutes to initiate reaction sintering.
The inclusion of silicon in the blended powder produces lower melting point constituents during the reaction sintering process, thereby allowing the molten alloy to wet the surface of the substrate and produce an effective diffusion bond between the coating and the substrate. The silicon additions also are believed to prevent the formation of brittle carbides at the coating/substrate interface. At silicon concentration of 6 wt % or higher, the silicon dissolves chromium carbides formed in the substrate and re-precipitate these randomly as the silicon concentration falls below 6 wt % due to silicon diffusion into the substrate.
It is preferred to pre-react certain of the constituents with each other, such as by atomizing chromium, aluminum and silicon to form a CrAlSi powder prior to blending with nickel and NiCr powders. Pre-reacting of powders retards the rate of exothermic reaction of the powders and reduces the amount of heat evolved during reaction stirring. The coated workpiece is heated to a temperature of at least about 500xc2x0 C. to 1100xc2x0 C. to initiate reaction sintering of the coating on the workpiece substrate and the temperature is increased up to 1200xc2x0 C. to provide a continuous impermeable coating bonded to the substrate without a sharp dividing line between the coating and the substrate and to provide random distribution of aluminum nitrides at the coating/substrate interface.
In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the overlay coating is deposited in a thickness of about 50 to 6000 xcexcm, preferably in a thickness about 120 to 500 xcexcm, more preferably 150 to 350 xcexcm, where the MCrAlXSi is NiCrAlYSi blended powder and has, by weight, up to 25 wt % chromium, about 4 to 20 wt % aluminum, about 3 to 20 wt % silicon, and about 0.5 to 1.5 wt % yttrium, the balance being a minimum of 40 wt % nickel.
In a preferred embodiment, a MCrAlXSi alloy coating comprising 22 wt % Cr, 10 wt % Al, 1 wt % Y and 3 wt % Si, the balance Ni, promoted a Cr-carbide layer at the coating/substrate interface which functioned as a diffusion barrier effective to retain aluminum within the coating. The presence of the silicon in the MCrAlX coating also improved a Cr-based scale produced by the overlay coating.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide an MCrAlX alloy additionally having silicon and/or a T element selected from the group consisting of tantalum, titanium, platinum, palladium, rhenium, molybdenum, tungsten, niobium, boron or combination thereof, to enhance the coating properties.
In this aspect of the invention, a MCrAlXSiT alloy is provided in which M=nickel, cobalt, iron or mixture thereof, X=yttrium, hafnium, zirconium, lanthanum, scandium, or mixture thereof, and T=tantalum, titanium, platinum, palladium, rhenium, molybdenum, tungsten, niobium, or combination thereof, having about 0 to 40 wt % chromium, about 3 to 30 wt % aluminum, up to about 5 wt % X, 0 to 40 wt % silicon, and up to about 10 wt % T, the balance M. Preferably the MCrAlXSiT alloy has about 10 to 25 wt % chromium, 4 to 20 wt % aluminum, up to 3 wt % X, up to 35 wt % silicon and up to 10 wt % T. More preferably, the X is present in amount of 0.25 to 1.5 wt %, silicon is present in amount up to 15 wt % and the T is present in amount of 0.5 to 8.0 wt %, most preferably T in the amount of 0.5 to 5.0 wt %.
And a still further object of the invention is the application of a blended powder slurry composition to a substrate to produce a desired MCrAlX or MCrAlXSiT.
In accordance with a preferred embodiment of this aspect of the invention, a mixture of two or more powders of the constituents of a MCrAlXSiT are blended with an effective amount of a binder to adherently coat a workpiece, and the workpiece with MCrAlXSiT coating is heated to a temperature for reaction sintering of the coating and adherent bonding of the coating onto the workpiece.
This method of the invention for providing a protective and inert coating to carbon steel and stainless steel at temperatures up to 1150xc2x0 C. can comprise depositing onto a steel substrate and metallurgically bonding thereto a continuous overlay coating of a MCrAlXSi alloy, when M=nickel, cobalt or iron or mixture thereof and X=yttrium, hafnium, zirconium, lanthanum or combination thereof, having about 0 to 40 wt % chromium, about 3 to 40 wt % aluminum, about 0 to 35 wt % silicon, and up to about 5.0 wt %, preferably about 0.25 to 1.5 wt % of yttrium, hafnium, zirconium, lanthanum, scandium or combination thereof, the balance being a minimum of 40 wt % M. The overlay coating may be deposited by a variety of methods including but not limited to physical vapour deposition (PVD), thermal spray, plasma transferred arc, and slurry coating techniques with reaction sintering occurring simultaneously with deposition or following deposition. In the case where reaction sintering does not occur during deposition, the overlay coating and substrate are heat-treated subsequently at a soak temperature in the range of about 500 to 1200xc2x0 C. for at least about 10 minutes to initiate reaction sintering.
The high temperature stainless steel substrate comprises, by weight, 18 to 38% chromium, 18 to 48% nickel, the balance iron and alloying additives, and preferably is a high chromium stainless steel having 31 to 38 wt % chromium or a low chromium steel having 20 to 25 wt % chromium. For ethylene furnace applications the workpiece substrate preferably is high temperature stainless steel.
In accordance with another embodiment of the invention, a high temperature stainless steel substrate, continuously surface alloyed with MCrAlXSi alloy by reaction sintering within a thickness of about 150 to 500 xcexcm is aluminized by depositing a surface layer of aluminum, aluminum alloy containing up to 60 wt %, preferably up to 15 wt %, silicon, or aluminum alloy containing up to 60 wt % silicon, a total of up to 30 wt % of at least one of chromium and titanium, the balance at least about 20 wt % aluminum, thereon and heat-treating at a soak temperature in the range of about 1000 to 1160xc2x0 C. for at least about 10 minutes preferably in an oxygen-free atmosphere to establish a multiphased microstructure. The aluminum or aluminum alloy surface layer preferably is deposited on the overlay in a thickness up to about 50%, preferably up to about 20%, of the MCrAlXSi thickness such as by magnetron sputtering physical vapour deposition at a temperature in the range of about 200xc2x0 to 500xc2x0 C., preferably at about 300xc2x0 C., and the surface alloyed substrate with aluminum overlayer is heated to the soak temperature.
The systems subsequently can be heated in an oxygen-containing atmosphere at a temperature above about 1000xc2x0 C., preferably in the range of above 1000xc2x0 C. to 1160xc2x0 C., in a consecutive step or in a separate later step for a time effective to form a surface layer of xe2x88x9d-alumina thereon.